A paint roller is a very common tool used by professionals and non-professionals such as home owners who do their own renovations. Paint rollers are convenient in that they cover a greater area in one stroke than typically do paint brushes.
Paint rollers typically have a paint applicator sleeve which fits over a cylindrical frame rotatably mounted on a handle which extends at right angles to the applicator sleeve. The handle extends through the rotatably mounted cylindrical frame to serve as the axle on which the frame rotates. The handle is bent or curved so as to double back upon itself along approximately half the length of the applicator sleeve so that the handle may extend at right angles to the applicator sleeve from approximately the half-way point along the applicator sleeve.
When applying paint to the applicator sleeve, it is desirable that only the outer surface of the sleeve come into contact with the paint. Consequently, a typical paint roller paint tray will be generally rectangular with a shallow trough at one end and an upwardly gently sloping surface extending upwardly from the trough along the remaining length of the tray.
Paint is poured from storage cans into the trough and applied to the applicator sleeve by dipping the sleeve surface into the paint and rolling the paint roller along the upwardly gently sloping surface of the tray.
It frequently happens that the amount of paint poured from a storage can into the trough is in excess of what is required to complete the paint job, or it is otherwise desirable to interrupt painting so that paint is left in the trough in the paint tray. It is bad practice to pour leftover paint left in the trough in the paint tray back into the storage cans. If this is done, a screened funnel is used to prevent introduction of contaminants into the otherwise clean paint stored in the storage cans. This means that excess paint has to be discarded before it starts to dry in the paint roller tray and makes cleaning of the paint roller tray difficult.
Quite often, painters who paint for a living find it convenient to leave paint in the paint roller trays for extended periods. What is sometimes done is that the paint roller tray containing the paint is slid into a plastic bag or the like and the bag is sealed so that the paint does not dry out as rapidly. This technique has obvious drawbacks in that it is clumsy and can be messy.
Painters would find it convenient to transport the paint roller trays containing the paint with the paint rollers actually left in the paint tray while the tray is being transported or stored. With conventional paint roller trays this would have its' obvious disadvantages in that paint will typically move around inside the paint tray and thus the paint roller handle will become splattered in paint.
It is an object of this invention to provide a paint roller tray having a closely fitting, reusable lid so that paint may be left for extended periods of time in the tray without drying out.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a paint roller tray reusable lid which is adapted to grip the handle of a paint roller so as to prevent the handle dropping into the tray.